Staff photo by Connor Cummiskey The Carmike Cinema 3 movie theater in New Ulm has been sold to AMC Theatres.

NEW ULM — City residents can expect changes this month to the local Carmike Cinema 3 movie theater.

AMC Theatres purchased Carmike at the end of last year for $1.2 billion. This year, the company is planning rolling renovations to each Carmike Cinema, changing them into one of three AMC brands.

The local theater will become an AMC Classic Theatre — America’s Hometown Theatres. The brand is described as “fun, friendly, local theatres, at which guests can depend upon for a great movie-going experience with value in mind,” in an AMC press release.

The classic-brand theater will offer Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, menu items such as pretzel bites and nachos and refillable annual popcorn buckets. Some may include MacGuffins bars; however, AMC representatives could not provide specific details for the New Ulm location.

There are two other brands that AMC is converting its newly acquired theaters into: AMC Theatres — AMC Amazing and AMC Dine-In Theatres — Movies with a Menu. AMC Theatres will offer reclining seating, MacGuffin bars and screens such as IMAX, Dolby Cinema and Prime at AMC, according to the press release.

Dine-In Theatres will be equipped with full kitchens and MacGuffins full bars and will offer full-service dining, delivery to seat and express pick-up of food and drink.

Once the theater is converted to AMC Classic, movies and other information will be available at amctheatres.com.

The purchase of Carmike Cinemas made AMC the largest movie exhibition company with approximately 900 theaters and over 10,000 screens across the globe, according to the press release.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) approved the acquisition with a few conditions to preserve competition in the movie-showing industry, according to the department’s website.

The DOJ asserted that without these steps, the merger between Carmike and AMC could result in higher-priced tickets and lower-quality experiences.

AMC is required to sell theaters in 15 local markets where Carmike was the company’s primary competitor in the locale.

The other requirements involve pre-show services and cinema advertising. AMC is required to reduce its involvement with National Cinemedia LLC, an advertising company.

The DOJ has required AMC to reduce its ownership in Cinemedia to under 5 percent, relinquish all governance rights and transfer 24 theaters to Cinemedia’s largest competitor Screenvision LLC, according to the DOJ’s website.

Connor Cummiskey can be emailed at ccummiskey@nujournal.com.